Carton making machine



March 8,1938. I W D 2,110,478

CARTON MAKING MACHINE Filed Nov. 16, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 8,1938. D. wooD CARTON MAKING MACHINE Filed NOV. 16, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 2March 8,1938. WOOD 2,110,478

CARTON MAKING MACHINE Filed Nov. 16, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 March 8,1938.

D. WOOD 2,110,478

CARTON MAKING MACHINE Filed Nov. 16, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig??? zadwww Patented Mar. 8, 1938 UNH'D Application November 16, 1936, SerialNo. 111,115 In Great Britain November 18, 1935 4 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for making cartons of frusto-conicalshape, from paper, cardboard or the like, subsequently impregnated withWax or other proofing material to render the cartons liquid-tight.

The invention has for its object to provide an improved machine formaking the frusto-conical bodies of the cartons in a continuous sequenceof operations, starting from a web of paper or the like, which, afterprinting, if desired, is cut to form the blanks, the edges of which aresecured together by adhesive after rolling the blank around a conicalmandrel or former.

According to this invention, the web of paper or the like is fed to aseries of cutting rollers, of which one pair make spaced incisionstowards the two edges of the web, these incisions preferably divergingat equal angles to the line of travel, for producing the side edges ofthe blank from p which the carton is to be made, and a second pair makecurved cuts transversely of the blank for producing the convex bottomedge and concave top edge of the blank, some or all of the transversecuts being made preferably across the entire width of the web so as todivide up the waste material.

Adhesive is applied to one of the side edges of the blank at a pointbetween the two pairs of cutting rollers, that is, while the blank isstill connected to the web at front and rear; when the web is cuttransversely, the blank or leading edge passes on to one or moresupporting guide rollers before the next transverse cut is made, and theblank thus severed is carried forward by these rollers on to a table orplatform beneath a mandrel of frusto-conical shape, around which it isfolded, a plurality of these mandrels being mounted upon a rotarystandard or carrier, during the intermittent rotation of which theformation of the carton body proceeds until it comes to a position forejection.

The invention is hereafter described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation of the carton-forming machine.

Fig. 2 is a plan view.

Fig. 3 is a plan of the cutting rollers on a larger scale.

Fig. 4 is a part sectional elevation of the cutting rollers.

Fig. 5 is a partial side elevation, seen in the opposite direction toFig. 1, showing the mechanism for driving the gumming device.

Fig. 6 is an end View of Fig. 5.

roller I! to a pair of feed rollers 58 in advance of tween thecylindrical surfaces of this roller 20 PATENT orril'ii Figs. 7 and 8 aretwo elevations at right angles to one another, showing the mechanism forfolding the carton body around the mandrel.

' Fig. 9 is a plan View of the folding mechanism. Referring to Figs. 1and 2, the web III of paper or the like, drawn from a roll I I provided,with a brake I2, is passed over a tensioning roller I3 7 mounted onspring controlled levers I4, and over a guide roller I 5, to a printingmechanism I6, from which it passes over another tensioning 10 thecutting rollers I9, 20. All these rollers are driven by suitable gearing2!, 22 from a vertical shaft 23, itself driven through bevel gearing 24from a main shaft 25, which also drives the printing mechanism I 6through suitable gearing 26.

As shown in Fig. 3, the first cutting roller 19, having helical cuttingblades 21,.makes spaced incisions 28 towards the two edges of the web,these incisions diverging at equal angles to the line'of travel; forthis purpose, the roller I9 has circumferential recesses 29 adjacent toits ends, in which recesses the helical cutting blades 27 are provided,the blades projecting beyond the circumierence of the roller by thethickness of the paper web, so that the blades produce the incisions 28near the edges of the web, while the latter is gripped (see Fig. 4)between the cylindrical surfaces of this roller I9 and the lower 1roller I9a, which is plain. The second pair of cutting rollers 20, 20a,having curved blades 30 on the upper roller 20, out the web transverselyas at 3| for producing the curved edges of the blank at, while the webis gripped (see Fig. 4) beand the plain lower roller 20a; at the sametime these cutting rollers 20, 20a sever the edges of the web I0 so asto divide up the waste material, I for which purpose, the upper cuttingroller 20 has its blades 30 (or alternate blades) extending across toslightly beyond the width of the web, the developed shape of theseblades 30 conforming to one of the curved edges of the required blank1'. The blades may be shaped to cut the longer curved edges, i. e. theedges which represent the larger ends of the frusto-conical cartonbodies, in which case both edges of the blanks will have-the samecurvature and the resulting carton bodies will be of greater height onone side than on the opposite side; to avoid this, the roller 20 isprovided with auxiliary cutting blades 32 of shorter length and sharpercurvature than the blades 30, so that both the top edge and the bottomedge of the blank are cut to proper shape by removal of the narrowconcave-convex slip,

. shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, a tank 34 containing gum or otheradhesiveis mounted at the side of the machine, near to the second pair ofcutting rollers 20, 20a. Within this tank a roller 35. is revolved, forexample intermittently by means of a ratchet mechanism 36; blades orscrapers may be arranged at opposite'sides of the roller, one in orderto regulate the thickness of adhesive taken up by the roller'35, and theother in order to scrape the roller entirely clean so that a supply offresh adhesive will always be available on the top of the roller. Theadhesive is transferred to the blank by means of an oscillating arm 31,operated by a cam device 38, the arm being fitted at'its extremity withametal striporpad 39 shaped to cover the area to be gummed on theblank;the under surface "of the gumming strip or pad may be plainor may beribbed or chequered to assist the retention of the adhesive taken fromthe roller 35. The fulcrum end of the arm 31 is forked to engage ahorizontal pivot 4| upon a vertical sleeve 42 which is turnedperiodically by thecam 38, acting through a lever 43, link 44 and crank45;

the movement carries the pad 39 at the end of the arm from above the topof the gumming roller 35 (as in Fig. 2) to a position'above the area tobe coated with adhesive (as in Fig. 3), andvice versa. The arm 31 israised clear during the forward and return movementsrby a horizontalrail or cam 46 engaging a roller 41 underneath the arm 31, this railbeing fixed to a sleeve slidable vertically on the post 49 whichsupports the other sleeve 42; a link 50 operated by a cam 5|, through abell crank 52, lifts the sleeve 48 and rail 46 during the swingingmovements of the arm 31, but allows the arm to descend into contact'withthe roller 31 and the web III at the respective ends of its movement.

If the web in which the blank has been partly cut out is travellingcontinuously forward, the

Y oscillating arm 31 may be made to travel in the same direction and atthe same speed as the web during the gumming operation, thus avoidingany smearing of the adhesive; this movement may be produced by a cam 53upon the same shaft 54, which causes the supporting post 49 of thegumming arm 31 to travel'along parallel to the web ID, the post 49beingsupported by twobars 55 slidable through guides 56, and

] operated by a link 51 attached to a cross head 20,200, after theapplication of adhesive, the

leading end of the severed blank has already passed between a pair ofsupporting and guiding rollers 59,'leading to anotherpair before thetrailing edge of the same blank is severed from the web; the guiderollers 59, 60 are reduced in diameter towards their ends, as seen inFig. 2,

so that the Waste material from the outer edges of the web can drop downand escape past the thinner end-portions 6f, 62 of the guide rollers.

into a chute 63, this waste material having been cut into short lengthsby the transverse cut 3| taken across the whole width of the web. Theblank .7: is however carried forward substantially in a horizontaldirection over the rollers 59, 60, which pass it over a grid 84 on to ahinged platform 65, while the waste material slips under this grid intothe chute; the blank is then moved forward by an oscillating finger 66which brings it into position beneath a mandrel 51, where it is locatedby a pair of rocking guides 68 carried by the platform, these guidesclosing together so as to center the blank in relation to the mandrel61. This mandrel is one of a plurality mounted radially upon a standardor carrier 89 rotatable on a vertical axis, and driven intermittentlywith a step by step motion through a Maltese-cross mechanism 10, 1| andreducing gear 12.

A portion of the platform 65, adjacent to the position at which theblank is located, is cut away to provide an opening 13 through which afolding mechanism operates for rolling the blank upwards around themandrel 61; .The folding mechanism, which is shown more clearly in Figs.'1 to 9, comprises a plate 14 normally lying flush with the platform butpivoted thereto at 14, which lifts the blank at its center line andpresses it against the underside of the mandrel 61, the plate rocking onits pivot to ensure even pressure, a pair of spaced arms 15 which thenrise and fold the blank up the two sides of the mandrel into U-shape, asindicated in dotted lines in Fig. 8, and a second pair of arms 16arranged outside the first pair, these second arms rising at the sametime as the first pair 15 but proceeding higher and then coming togetherso as to complete'the folding of the blank around the mandrel. Thefolding mechanism is operated by cams and levers working in combination,the second pair ,of arms 16 being .preferably arranged to operate oneslightly in advance of the other so as to ensure a smooth overlapping ofthe two edges of the blank, with the coated edge over the other edge.

As shown in Fig. 7, the cams 11 and "are mounted upon the shaft 54extending transversely beneath the platform 65, these cams respectivelyoperating two bell crank levers 19 and which control three sliders 8|,82, 83 mounted on a fixed vertical guide rod 84; the upper slider 8|,which is connected by links 86 to the underside of the platform 65, isalso connected by a buffer device 81 to the middle slider 82 on the sameguide rod, this middle slider being itself connected by links 88 to'thebell crank 19. When the latter rocks, these two sliders rise togetherand cause the plate 14 to lift the blank up against the mandrel 61. Thecontinued rise of the slider 82 then compresses the spring buffer 81 tohold the blank tightly against the underside of the mandrel, and bringsthe arms 15 upwards to fold the blank into U-shape, and at the same timethe lower slider 83 operated by the bell crank 80 and links 85 causesthe second pair ofarms' 16 to move up with the first pair; these two'pairs of arms have a mutual engagement by 7 means of rollers I86 on thefirst pair acting upon cam surfaces I81 on the second pair. When thefirst pair of arms 15 has reached its upper position, the continued riseof the second pair 16 causes their cams I81 to travel relatively to therollers I86 so that the arms of this second pair can come together andcomplete the folding movement, the cams I 8'! being so shaped that onearm 19 moves in advance of the other, as already mentioned, to ensurethe proper overlapping of the gummed edge of the blank.

The same cam shaft 54 is conveniently employed for the operation of thefinger 66 and rocking guides 68 which locate the blank beneath themandrel 61; for this purpose the shaft is provided with a third cam I88engaging the rollerfitted extremity of a lever 89 mounted on a rockingshaft 99 which carries a second lever B! the free upper end of thelatter engaging with a lug 92 secured on a slidable spindle 93 and alsowith the roller-fitted extremities of two arms 94. The spindle 93, whichis guided in lugs 93 on the bottom of the platform 65, carries theoscillating finger 69 and is controlled by a spring 95 which acts todraw the blank on to the platform 65 after the finger has engaged behindthe blank by the sliding of the spindle 93 backwards by the lever 9Iwhile the platform is in the lowered position seen in Fig. 7; the arms94 are secured to the spindles 96 of the rocking guides 68 so that theseguides can close together when the platform 65 reaches its levelposition after the blank is in place thereon.

The arms 15 are fitted with thin vertical blades 91 set slightlyobliquely as seen in Figs. 8 and 9, and the arms 16 are fitted with thinblades 98 extending inwards sufficiently to pass over the top of themandrel Bl.

When the blank has been folded round the mandrel, a heated pressure pad99, controlled by cam--0perated levers I 90, descends between the edgesof the blades 98 on to the seam or joint, the folding mechanism thenretiring downwardly below the platform 65, and the mandrel 6'! beingmoved on to the next operative position, while the pressure pad 99continues to hold the blank in place.

The number of mandrels 61 may be varied, but in the preferredconstruction illustrated, the rotatable standard or carrier 69 isprovided with eight mandrels spaced evenly around its axis and theperiodical movements of the carrier shift these mandrels through 45degrees in the horizontal plane; the intermittent motion can be obtainedfor example by the Maltese cross mechanism I9, II, or by any othersuitable means.

The mandrels 67 are preferably constructed in such a way that thepressure can be applied to the whole length of the seam, so as to ensurea quick and sound joint, but where the carton bodies are to be providedwith a step or fiange to receive a sealing disc, as in the case of milkbottles, the mandrels are arranged to allow a portion of the conicalfolded blank or carton body to be exposed for the inturning or rollingdown of the narrow end of the body. The mandrels are therefore made witha hollow main portion, shorter than the carton body by the amountrequired for rolling or inturning, and an auxiliary movable end-piece ItI, making up the full length; this end-piece, which is pivoted at IE2 atthe base or larger end of the mandrel, is controlled for example by apush-rod I93 slidable through the boss I94 and operated by a third leverI05 secured on the rocking shaft 90. The heated pressure pad 99 is alsoprovided with a hinged section IE6 at one end, this section beingnormally supported in line but being raised or temporarily removed (ashereafter described) to expose the exterior of the narrow end of thecarton body at the same time and to the same extent as the exposure ofthe interior by the withdrawal of the end-piece IDI of the mandrel.

While the pressure pad remains firmly engaged with the whole length ofthe seam, the carrier rotates for example through four steps or half arevolution, each step bringing another mandrel B! into position toreceive a blank which is rolled round it by the same folding mechanism.At the fifth position, the movable end-piece IIII of the mandrel iswithdrawn by the push rod I93 and the hinged section 896 of the pressurepad 99 is removed by another push rod IIl'I, so as to allow the rollingor inturning of the narrow end of the carton body at this position, bymeans of grooved rollers I98 mounted in a rotary head I99, the advanceof which operates the push rod I91 to remove the hinged section of thepressure pad. The rollers I08 act to turn or curl over the rim of thecarton body so as to form a doubledover flange or beading, which issubsequently smoothed by a revolving punch or plunger III) at'the nextposition of the carrier 69, with or without forming a step inside theend of the carton. Just before the mandrel reaches the seventh position,the heated pressure pad 99 is raised by the levers I89, the seam beingnew dried out, and at the seventh position a transfer arm I I I operatesto strip the formed carton body from the mandrel 91, the carton fallingon to a conveyor for example.

Preferably, however, the carton bodies are passed on to a sliding orrocking holder. II2

having part-conical rests or receptacles for car- 7 ton bodies which isoscillated in relation to the movements of the forming machine, thisholder being adapted to take two or more of the cartons in turn. Whenone carton has been placedin position upon one rest of the holder H2,and as the transfer arm I! I is retiring ready for stripping the nextcarton oiT its mandrel, the holder H2 is displaced laterally so as tobring another rest or receptacle into position facing the next mandrelwhich is to deliver. After the holder II2 has received the two cartons,the transfer arm I II at its next stroke will push both these cartons atthe same time into another machine in which the cartons are fitted withbottoms, either at their wider or at their narrower ends according tothe kind of carton, e. g. milk-bottles or cream-tubs. Thus the transferarm I I I, which is slidably operated by a link I I4 from a lever I I 5driven by a face cam, makes short and long strokes, short strokes forthe first position of the rocking holder H2 and a long stroke for theother position of the holder, in which the laterally displaced cartonbody is pushed into the drum by an auxiliary transfer arm moving insynchronism with the first. After the bottoms have been fitted in. thecarton bodies, the latter are impregnated with wax or other proofingmaterial, being then ready for filling and subsequent capping by meansfor example of a sealing disc. pressed into place upon the internal stepformed by the plunger after the inturning of the narrow end of thecarton body in the machine above described.

What I claim is:

1. A machine for making frusto-conical carton bodies, comprising cuttingrollers, means for feeding a web of material through said cuttingrollers, said cutting rollers adapted to make pairs of incisions in saidweb of material and subsequently to cut said web transversely, saidpairs of incisions being spaced along said web and 75 theincisions ofeach pair being equally inclined to the line of travel of said webthrough said rollers, said transverse cuts. being curved to intersectcorresponding ends of said pairs of incisions, means for applying anadhesive to said web adjacent toone incision of each pair prior to themaking of said transverse cuts, means for folding the blank defined bythe intersection of said transverse cuts and incisions intofrustoconical shape with an overlap containing said adhesive, and'meansfor pressing said overlap to secure adhesion.

- 2. A machinefo-r making frusto-conical carton bodies, comprising apair of co-operating rollers, helically disposed cutting blades upon oneof said rollers, a second pair of co-operating rollers, at least onecurved cutting blade upon one of the second-mentioned rollers, means forfeeding, a web of material through said pairs of co-operating rollers inturn, the first-mentionedrollers producing pairs of straight incisionstowards the opposite edges of said web, at least one incision of eachpair being inclined to the line of travel of said web, thesecondmentioned rollers producing transverse cuts intersecting saidpairs of straight incisions in said web, means for applying an adhesiveto said web adjacent to one incision of each pair, said adhesiveapplying means being located between the first mentioned rollers and thesecond mentioned rollers, means for folding the blank defined by theintersection of said transverse cuts and incisions into frusto-conicalshape with an overlap containing said adhesive, and means for pressingsaid overlap to secure adhesion.

' 3. A machine for making frusto-conical carton bodies,comprisingicutting rollers, means for feeding a web of material throughsaid rollers,

said rollers cutting out blanks of annular sector shape from saidmaterial, means for applying adhesive to said web at a positioncorresponding to a straight edge of the blank to be produced by saidcutting rollers, a platform, a plate pivoted in said platform andnormally flush therewith, means for passing. the blanks in turn uponsaid platform, a mandrel of frusto-conical shape located above saidplatform, means for lifting said'platform to raise a blank against thelower side of said mandrel, said pivoted plate then rocking to aninclined position parallel to the lower generatrix of said mandrel, apair of arms adapted to rise through said platform on opposite sides ofsaid plate and to fold said blank into U-shape, a second pair of armsadapted to rise through said platform on opposite sides of said plateoutside the first mentioned pair of arms and to come together forfolding the ends of the U-shaped blank around said mandrel, and meansfor pressing said edges into contact to secure adhesion.

4. A machine for making frusto-conical carton bodies, comprising cuttingrollers, means for feeding a web of material through said rollers, saidrollers cutting out blanks of annular sector shape from said material,means for applying adhesive to said web at a position corresponding to astraight edge of the blank to be produced by said cutting rollers, aplatform, means for passing the blanks in turn upon said platform, arotatable standard, means for driving said standard in intermittentrotation, a plurality of frusto-conical mandrels mounted radially uponsaid standard, each of said mandrels arriving in turn above saidplatform during the intermittent rotation of said standard, means forlifting the blank located upon said platform into contact .withthemandrel located above said platform, means for folding the edges of saidblank around said mandrel, means for pressing said edges into contact tosecure adhesion, said pressing means including a removable part adaptedto engage one of said edges at the narrow end of the folded blank andremaining partly operative during a substantial part of the rotation ofsaid standard, means for inturning the narrow end of the folded blank ina. subsequent position of said mandrel, and means for removing saidremovable part of said pressing means to inoperative position during theoperation of said inturning means.

DENNIS WOOD.

